A Flicker of Headlights
by 4thFromTheFurnace
Summary: The only thing she ever knew how to drive was that horrible yellow car of hers, so someone had to teach her.


**Part of my Christmas Gift Fic Bonanza! I admit, this couple is odd and non-canon, but I was too perplexed. The only thing Carly could drive before she became a Dark Signer was that hunk-a-junk yellow car of hers. Somehow after she became a Dark Signer she automatically knew how to drive a D-Wheel! Well, someone had to teach her. If this is considered non-canon, I think it's safe to assume that I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's.**

The dusty chrome shone a dull red hue in the low, grey light. She ran her delicate fingers over the crimson metal, taking note of the texture of the bike against her fingertips. This was hers. It was dirty and worn, but it was hers. She was still unsure where it had come from, but the Dark Signers seemed intent on making her using it in her duel with Jack.

Carly Nagisa wasn't complaining, no, not at all. However, she didn't really even know which way she was supposed to sit on the unfamiliar hunk of machine, let alone how to make it work. To be honest, it looked as if it was about to die and rot in a junk heap, but perhaps this was the only ride that they could get a hold of. She was okay with it, she supposed, especially since she was about to get her revenge on Jack Atlas.

Something was still off, though. Not only did it look like it had been left in a swamp for a few dozen years, but she still had no idea how to turn it on, let alone how to drive it. The only other Dark Signer she knew that had a Duel Runner was...

Anyway, she could guess that he probably got his Runner before he became a Dark Signer or soon after. Shaking her head, she focused back on the sad machine in front of her. Finally, she gave a breathless sigh and picked up a shredded rag and began to scrub the metal, trying in vain to scrub the caked dirt off of the rims.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do ya, bird-brain?" a familiar arrogant voice sneered. Carly breathed through her nose, trying her best to restrain from blowing up at him for insulting her. Doing so would be tragic for he was technically a superior to her. He had been in this plot way longer than she had. She turned to give him a reprimanding glare to find her white-haired comrade in the exact position she expected him to be in.

Kiryu was leaning against the doorway, his weight on one foot as his position fully emanated his arrogance. Even for a Dark Signer, Kiryu could be downright creepy. He was a bit egotistical and he was vengeful, not to mention his disturbing obsession with laughing maniacally whenever he felt like it. The vengeance she could understand completely. It was probably one of the only things that allowed any kind of understanding within the group, or at least between him and her.

He snatched the rag from her and tossed it in a heap of junk before he walked over to a small bucket in the corner. He pulled out a wet sponge and tossed it to her, splashing water all over her front in the process.

"Catch. You're never gonna get anywhere with this piece a' junk if you use something like that." he nodded towards the shredded rag on the junk pile. The young woman stared at him for a couple minutes. Maybe he wasn't so bad, despite the fact that she was now quite a bit soaked.

With that, the young male took a seat on her Runner, propping his muddy boots on the dashboard and folding his arms, a satisfied smirk on his face, "Now, scrub in small circles, you'll eventually get it."

She took the previous thought back. That cocky jerk was planning on sitting there and watching her in mirth as she did all the work!

"Are you just going to sit up there and laugh at me?" she spat.

"Yep."

"You can't come down here and help me?"

"Nope."

She breathed an exasperated sigh. If he wasn't going to help, then his existence only served an even bigger nuisance than it already was. He was already making himself comfortable in the dirty leather seat. That would not do. She had to figure out how to get him off her bike.

"My duel with...him... is in two days. There's no way I'm going to get my revenge on a bike that looks almost as bad as your wardrobe." she growled.

The albino gave her a harsh glare before rolling his eyes and dismounting the bike. He would teach her a lesson if he could, but she was the instrument that they would use to unravel his old friend Jack Atlas. She may serve to be somewhat useful after all.

The male duelist walked past her, towards the door. Just as Carly thought he had left the room, she felt a shadow on her left side. The presence stooped to kneel at her level, a sponge in his hand. Kiryu frowned at the caked mud on the metal, his right eye twitching, "If I clean this hunk of junk for you, you gotta swear to make Jack pay for whatever he's done. Oh, and stop bugging me...You're quite a pest."

Carly sighed heavily, trying to ignore his last comment, "Fine. I swear."

For a few minutes, both were silent. Carly wasn't exactly sure what to do or what to say to make the weird awkward feeling in her stomach subside. She never really wanted to talk to him; he was not the most pleasant of the Dark Signers, but she hated the stillness more than she hated him. It was so strange and unnerving to have a moment of silence with Kiryu around. Just as she was about to open her mouth, he remarked, "Ugh, woman! Pay attention! You're scrubbing the same spot over and over again!"

She glanced at his miffed expression, suddenly noticing how childish he looked when he was pouting. In an effort to keep from meeting his gaze, the girl quickly turned back to the Duel Runner. Then she heard his voice again.

"You're such a pain. Here."

Suddenly, he reached over, taking her hand that held the sponge with his rough, calloused fingers. She nearly dropped the sopping wet sponge. Her eyes widened as she stared at the bizarre physical contact. His hand was HUGE! His white fingers crawled out of his hand like spider's legs. Her entire hand could fit inside his palm, or so it seemed.

It took her a few moments to realize that he was maneuvering her hand and rubbing her sponge vigorously over the metal. It dawned on her.

Kiryu wasn't exactly the most patient of people, it seemed, especially when he was required to try and deal with someone as scatterbrained as she was. And being a riding duelist and a mechanic of sorts, the only way he knew how to teach something was to do it. It was as if that small gesture exposed his defeat on the counts of arrogance and laziness and instead established his position as "teacher".

Within moments of him guiding her hand and the sponge over the bike, she could swear she saw metal underneath the grime. As her hand adjusted to the circular movement of the sponge, he slowly let her hand go.

"Told ya." he breathed. With that, he crossed his legs and sat back, leaning his elbows on the floor for support, "So, what did that idiot blond do to you?"

His voice came harshly with a hint of sarcasm and not a shred of empathy. She really didn't feel the need to tell him anything about her. However, he did help her with her Duel Runner, and maybe if she tried not to annoy him, she could get him to teach her to ride so she wouldn't crash on the way to her duel. As she opened her mouth to speak, he spoke again.

"Please leave out all the mushy gushy trash. I only wanna hear what he did to make you want to kill him."

Carly couldn't help herself. She let out a slightly disturbing sour laugh, "I get it. You're the kind of person who feeds off of people's pain and revenge. You love to hear about how much people hurt, don't you?"

She smirked, her eyes giving a small flash as her heart filled with hatred for a certain turbo-duelist, "All right, fine. I'll tell you whatever you need to know."

Her mind began to flash back to when she first met the one and only Jack Atlas, "I disguised myself to go into the hospital so I could get information from Jack Atlas, then that jerk had the nerve to get me to help him escape, then he tore apart my life and whatever home I had just to use me as a stepping stone to his 'greatness' and 'destiny'."

Kiryu spat out a cackle, "That half-wit pansy couldn't see what he already had if it bit him in the face."

The girls eyes jerked to look at her companion. What on earth did-?

"We could have ruled the Satellite, we would have been the ones that had the power. Then we could have had New Domino City on its knees. But they were too chicken. They stabbed me in the back like dogs in a dog fight. Now, it's them that will feel the suffering and betrayal that they put me through." his rant then broke into a chuckle, which, of course, led to another maniacal laugh.

Carly's face deadpanned. Her shocked question left as quickly as it had come. As he tried to clear his throat from his hysteric evil laughter, she tried to focus on cleaning the Duel Runner before she began to lose her mind, "So, are you gonna help me clean this thing? Or are you gonna sit there and get a hernia from that crazy nut-case cackle?"

"You know how to clean it now, why should I waste my time?" he raised an eyebrow.

She growled, "I don't even know how to ride the thing, I'm never going to have time to clean it AND figure out how to ride it in such a short time..."

Kiryu stared at her for a few seconds, his eye giving the occasional twitch, "I should've known." he seethed through his teeth. As the male duelist stood, Carly turned back to focus on cleaning her bike. After a few moments, however, she could still feel his presence hanging over her. His voice finally broke the silence, "Come on, you're not going to learn how to ride by sitting on the garage floor. Troublesome woman."

The girl stared at him for a few moments before leaving her sponge on the seat of her Duel Runner and standing up to follow him. The young man turned and briskly walked out of the garage and down a small hallway before turning left into the garage that Carly had never seen before. The room that held Kiryu's Duel Runner.

With that, he pushed a button on the wall that opened the garage door, exposing the landscape beyond. Carly stood there, watching him walk over to his bike.

Kiryu picked up his helmet and turned around, "C'mere, bird-brain." he mumbled, his voice a bit defeated. She reluctantly took a few steps toward him and stopped when he shoved his helmet roughly into her hands, "Put it on."

He then positioned himself on the bike, leaving room on the back for her to get on. The former reporter's eyes lingered on him for a few minutes, trying to figure out if she was really reading the situation correctly. Kiryu merely rolled his eyes and blew his hair out of his face, "You coming or not?"

Carly shook herself from her thoughts and walked over to the Runner, slowly getting on behind him.

The engine then roared out of its sleep with a thundering growl. The noise made the girl jump, her feet jerking into position on the footrests behind Kiryu's boots.

Out of the noise, she heard Kiryu's voice one last time, "You better hold on."

The sentence barely registered in her mind before he hit the gas. The impact of movement caused Carly to let out a breathless squeak as her arms quickly wrapped around Kiryu's waist, her fingers clutching his shirt. The duel-modified motorcycle sped off into the darkness, with Carly on the back, clinging onto Kiryu's mid-section for dear life. Her eyes closed tightly, nearly burying her face in his back from the jolt of motion. She could feel the wind whipping her hair behind her, and the whistle of the air nearly hurt her ears. Above the commotion of the wind and the engine, Carly heard Kiryu's voice, like a low whisper in a hurricane, "You can open your eyes now."

In response, the girl closed her eyes tighter, almost afraid of what she'd find if she peeked through her eyelids. Slowly, she saw herself, not riding on the back of Kiryu's Duel Runner, but riding with Jack on his. She still couldn't really figure out how that worked with the design of Jack's Duel Runner, but she didn't care. A voice jolted her from her thoughts.

"Open your eyes, woman!"

Carly finally conceded and lifted her eyelids. With that, Kiryu grabbed one of her hands from his middle and placed her hand on one of the handles, under his own hand.

"You have to feel the bike breathe under your hands. You have to feel the anger and vengeance in the roar of the engine. You can't drive the thing if you keep your eyes closed."

He continued, his face twisted into a malicious snarl, "It's almost like you're afraid, little birdie."

She frowned, pursing her lips and hardening her gaze to concentrate. With that, Kiryu then took her other hand from his stomach and put it on the other handle, keeping his hand over hers to make sure she didn't mess up. Carly stared at the handles, then at the road directly in front of the bike. The albino rolled his eyes, "Don't look right in front of you, it throws off your balance and sense of presence. Look into the distance, as far as you can in the direction you're going to go." he growled.

Carly raised her face to stare into the rocky horizon, barely noticing the strands of white hair brushing against her helmet from the wind. Her expression turned to a grimace. She was out in the open air, the breeze flying through her hair; why did she feel so stuffy and claustrophobic? She almost felt like she couldn't breathe. The helmet probably wasn't helping. She lifted the visor so she could talk to him.

"Um…hey." She mumbled. He turned his head just enough so his ear was close to her face, glancing at her quickly before setting his eyes back on the road.

His gruff mutter was low, barely audible over the noise of the engine and the wind, but still holding a small bit of his classic contemptuous hiss, "What is it?"

Carly gulped down a small lump in her throat before she replied, "What will the future look like? For the Dark Signers?"

Kiryu gave a snort and a low chuckle, "We're dead, remember? No matter what happens, we can never go back to the way it was before. We can pretend, and we can make our own world filled with darkness and despair, but there is no redemption for us. It would take more than a miracle for us to get rid of this revenge that we crave. Get used to it, Nagisa, that pain you feel…isn't going to go away."

Her eyes widened. Did Kiryu…regret what happened? He always had such a tough, exterior. She never thought that there would be any kind of heart in that bundle of lunacy. Even his evil laugh…was it trying to hide something that he felt deep inside?

"Kiryu?"

Suddenly, she heard the strange, yet familiar sound of malevolence without sanity. Kiryu was laughing again, only this time, it sounded downright guttural, "Don't get me wrong now, I can't wait for the age of darkness to begin its reign. Everything will erupt into chaos, and everyone will feel the sting of betrayal and hatred that I felt. That's when we will rise…to finish what was unfinished at the time of my death!" he rasped, the growl from his stomach accenting his anger as bloodlust dripped from his every word.

Carly tugged on the young man's sleeve, "Excuse me, Mr. Death and Vengeance, can we focus on the road, please?"

The boy sighed heavily and stared at his dashboard a moment, "You have no idea how to Turbo Duel, either, do you?"

The ex-reporter glanced at the ground, not exactly ecstatic about answering the question. Without any warning, Kiryu cut a sharp right turn, stirring up dust like the smoke of destruction in his wake. The girl on the back of his duel runner had to keep herself from letting out a high-pitched squeal of surprise. In response, Kiryu practically laid on the gas, speeding off towards the silhouette of a mountain that looked relatively similar to a spiraling peak of terror.

Carly could feel her stomach churn and roll uncomfortably. Maybe she wasn't so fit to ride these things; or maybe she should keep in mind not to get Kiryu into a mood while he's driving. She coughed, trying not to inhale any more of the dust that the wheels were spinning into her face. Suddenly she found herself staring at the drop-off of a massive ravine on their left side about fifty yards away. The girl swerved her eyes to stare at the back of Kiryu's head. After a moment of silence, her slightly worried expression turned into question form, "Kiryu?"

In response, the Dark Signer took her hand with surprising gentleness and put it back around his stomach, before doing the same with the other hand. His eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as he kept his eyes on the path before him. Finally, he explained, his voice low and emotionless, "I can't have you anywhere near the steering right now. It's too dangerous."

Carly's gaze held on him for a few minutes, trying to figure out what on Earth was behind his words. As usual, his arrogance answered her, "If you wanna be able to defeat the Signer, then you gotta learn this. But there ain't no way you're ready for it anytime soon. I already died once; but with you around, apparently that's not enough."

A heavy sigh left her lips, along with a small droop of her shoulders. She really wished that he would stop doing that. Just once, she wondered if she could just be left in suspense about his character. Just once she wondered if she could just pretend that there was some small hint of good inside him somewhere. Just some small piece of humanity that might still linger in that cold, numb shell of what once was a human being.

Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of where Kiryu's D-Wheel was heading. There was a narrow ledge spiraling up the mountain, with the ravine drop-off on one side of the ledge and the side of the mountain on the other. Carly gritted her teeth, clenching Kiryu's shirt tightly in her fists.

The boy stepped on the gas, giving the Duel Runner a burst of acceleration. The D-Wheel went speeding up the narrow ledge, kicking up dust and causing small rocks to fall from the mountain. However, when the ledge started to curve, Kiryu made no effort to begin to steer to follow the ledge. His right hand grabbed a lever on the side of the display screen and jerked it downward, causing the jets on the back wheel to fire up with a blast of explosion. The bike surged forward with a tremendous quaking motion and thunderous roar. Carly's lungs started to squeeze in her chest as her mouth went dry. She managed to let out a raspy whisper, "Kiryu! We're going to…!"

A slight evil chuckle came from the other Dark Signer, "Lighten up, birdie. This should be fun."

Carly had barely enough breath to scream. She released one of her arms from Kiryu's waist and grabbed his arm. All of a sudden, her arm began to burn. A bright violet light started trailing down her arm like liquid, forming into a specific shape. The lines of her hummingbird mark had etched a pattern along her arm. In surprise, she stared at her arm for a moment, until Kiryu released a small growl. Her eyes darted to Kiryu's forearm, where the giant mark outlined his own arm.

The girl's eyes widened, "Ascilla Piscu? Ccapacua Pu? What's…going on?"

Kiryu tightened his grip on the handlebars and tried to focus on landing the duel runner without killing them both…again. Carly clung to his back tightly as the D-Wheel met the ground with a sound like mechanical thunder. The machine screeched as the male maneuvered it sideways until it skidded violently across the dirt, kicking up billows of dust in the process. Kiryu barely managed to stop the five hundred-pound hunk of metal before it gave out. He placed one foot on the dirt as he tried to steady it, a clear expression of pain ingrained in his face.

A shocking tension ran up his spine before he gave a rasping sigh, "Get off."

His voice was deep and serious, which sounded quite a bit disturbing to the young woman's ears. She dismounted the D-Wheel shakily, taking her helmet off and awkwardly trying to regain her balance. It wasn't long, however, before her attention was drawn to the burning sensation in her arm. Intrigued, she nearly ripped off her glove to stare at her sign. She had become accustomed to her sign showing up during a duel or around a Signer, but this time it felt different. As if by cue, Kiryu dismounted the bike as well, walking over to her in quick, menacing strides, "What'd you do?" he hissed.

She shrugged, her voice beginning to come out in breaks and stutters, "I-I don't k-know."

Carly turned her arm over a few times, staring at it with fearful fascination. She glanced at the other Dark Signer, whose arm was brightly burning with the sign of the giant. He took off his riding glove slowly and eyed the mark on his arm, before swiveling his head around to look in different directions. He looked like some kind of creepy owl, jerking his neck around, just waiting for an unsuspecting Yusei to pop out from behind a rock.

The girl felt a clench in her chest as she stared at her arm for a moment. It was well known that a Dark Signer's mark would react in the presence of a Signer, and vice versa. However, what would it mean if a Dark Signer's mark reacted to the mark of another Dark Signer? Was that possible?

As if to test her theory, Carly slowly held her hand up, her palm facing her albino co-conspirator. He was only a couple feet away from her when he noticed her hand. An expression of curiosity, fear, and wonder was on her face as she stared at her arm. He watched her for a moment, almost suspiciously. Her eyes slowly crept from her arm to Kiryu's face before quickly darting away.

Kiryu couldn't understand it. Why would his mark react like this? Yusei clearly wasn't around anywhere, and neither was anyone else, so there was no explainable reason that his mark would behave as such. His golden eyes examined her face. Unless…But was that possible?

A slight gasp came from her throat when she felt something rough and warm against her palm. Suddenly, she felt a throbbing, stinging pain coursing through her arm. She clenched her teeth but watched in awe, unable to take her eyes away, as her mark began to glow a bright blue. Her gaze shifted to her hand, which was now pressed against Kiryu's large, calloused palm, before her eyes traveled to Kiryu's golden irises.

Her voice came out as a shallow whisper from her lips, "What's going on?"

His steel gaze drove bullets through her system. Finally, he turned to grimace at the horizon, a sarcastic sneer on his lips, "If there was any hope for the Dark Signers, which there isn't, then we would have to forget about the Signers altogether."

Carly bit her lip, "So, there is hope."

Kiryu growled, wrapping his fingers around her hand abruptly and tugging her towards him. His scowl barely masked the anger and hatred boiling in his blood, "Idiot."

She closed her eyes, immersing herself in her thoughts. It pained her so much to think about these things, but it had come time for her to make a decision. She felt so much resentment for Jack Atlas, yet she still ached to be in his presence. She guessed that this would be what they called heartache, but she didn't really even want anything to do with it at the moment. Even though she had a connection to Jack, right now she felt so riddled with hatred and confusion that she knew what would become of her. If she won, then Jack would die. If she lost, then she would die. Just for a moment, she wondered what it would be like to let go.

Instead of backing down, this time Carly stared at the leader of Team Satisfaction square in the face as he loomed ominously over her.

"Hope like headlights in the fog. What if…" she glanced at her mark, which still shone a periwinkle blue, "What if the darkness has no place for us anymore?"

Kiryu furrowed his eyebrows, "What are you babbling about? Do you ever stop talking?"

The former reporter ignored him and continued, "Rudger says that fighting the Signers is our destiny, whether we win or lose. But, if the only hope for us is to forget about the Signers, then forgetting about them wouldn't be running away. It would be more like denying 'fate'."

"Geez, woman. Will you ever shut your mouth?" he rasped.

"So, the only way to truly live from here, and the reason our marks are glowing is…"

Carly's sentence was cut short when she felt something on her waist. Kiryu used his hand around her middle to pull her against him as he leaned towards her. His face hovered over hers as a cocky smirk crossed his face, "You really do talk too much."

Carly licked her lips to keep her mouth from completely drying out as she tried to breathe while his breath tickled her nose. She felt her hummingbird sign sizzle against her skin as her arm met with his. She focused her eyes on his face, noting to herself that he had quite beautiful eyelashes, for a guy.

The boy muttered, "You know that we will be forced to meet our destiny."

She breathed and nodded, "Yeah, I know."

He lowered his face slowly as his nose brushed against hers. His gaze settled on her eyes as his eyelids began to close. He could feel her breath on his lips as he slowly opened his mouth, "If we ever had any hope, then it's just a flicker, Nagisa."

---

Carly rubbed her eyes and groaned, stretching her arms out as she tried to lift the sleepiness from her body. She glanced around, her eyes drooping as she observed her usual room, laying in her usual cot. The girl stood awkwardly and walked towards her duel disk sitting on the desk. She slipped it on her arm and ran her fingers through her ebony hair.

She then walked outside the room and towards the garages, remembering her upcoming turbo duel. With that, a rush of memories came back of what happened between her and Kiryu.

_ "This battle has to be fought. It would have been easier if you weren't such a pest."_

Carly inspected her arm, but saw no remnants of the strange behavior of the hummingbird mark the night before.

A slightly disappointed sigh escaped her lips. It was probably all a dream. None of it could have been real. Kiryu would never do anything like that. It was probably just a product of her heartsick imagination. She really needed to stop watching those romantic duels before she went to bed.

As she approached the door to the garage where her nasty D-Wheel lived, she prepared herself for the sight of something so ugly that it made her old car look like a Corvette.

The sight that met her eyes, however, was enough to make her forget how to formulate words in her mind. The metal and chrome shone like jewels in the summer sun. She could see her reflection like glass on the rims. The red metal almost glowed like the colors of passion and blood. The rest of the garage was completely empty, though she wouldn't notice anything else in the garage even if it was there.

That is, until the garage door opened and the morning light flooded in with a rush of sunshine. Carly shielded her eyes and squinted until her eyes adjusted to the lighting change. It wasn't difficult to notice the silhouette standing in the garage doorway, especially when he began to speak, "So, bird-brain, you going to learn to Turbo Duel on your own or am I going to have to teach you that too?"

** I really do like this one. I think it speaks for itself. Bwahahaa! Vagueness! Tell me what you thought! Merry Christmas everyone! I'll be praying for you and God bless!**


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